Partnership with YMCA bringing latchkey to Southeastern Local Schools

CHILLICOTHE - If all goes well with the state approval process this summer, Southeastern Local Schools parents will have a new latchkey program available for the 2018-19 school year.

District Superintendent Brian Justice said the idea to provide a before- and after-school latchkey service was floated during a school board meeting early this calendar year and he agreed to look at potential options to meet the needs of parents struggling to find child care before and after school.

One option was pursuing a grant to start such a program, but he said that route would tie the district's hands to the federal money and those types of grants tend to phase out over time, leaving the district to pick up more and more of the cost of the service. A second option was for the district to find a way to offer the service itself, but that option would require several staff members to extend their work days and he wanted to keep them fresh and focused on their teaching responsibilities.

A third option, approaching the Ross County YMCA, arose as Justice called around to other school districts. Hearing Huntington Superintendent Pete Ruby's praise for how a latchkey partnership with the Y was working in that district was among the factors that encouraged Justice to reach out to YMCA Chief Executive Officer Steve Clever.

The YMCA presently operates two school-age child care programs, Clever said. One of them is conducted at the YMCA's Mill Street facility, and primarily serves students from Bishop Flaget and the Chillicothe and Union-Scioto school districts. The second is the one conducted at Huntington Elementary.

"We are the licensed entity and provide the personnel, structure, curriculum and programming, while partnering with the school and the teachers to ensure we're meeting their expectations and needs of their students," Clever said.

Southeastern officials were convinced, with Justice excited about several aspects of a possible arrangement. For one thing, other than providing space at the school for the program that would meet program requirements, the district would have few responsibilities for its operation. The YMCA, as Clever said, would provide the staff and programming, as well as handle collection of payments from parents for the service and deal with any issues with the children that may arise.

Secondly, Justice was sold on the fact that the program would go beyond just child care, providing both fun and a structured curriculum for participating children.

"One of the big things that the YMCA is going to do that I really love is once the kids start coming and they get into that routine of who they're going to have, they're going to contact the teachers and find out what students need to work on and they will implement that into their after-school tutoring," Justice said. "If I was going to tell you the thing that won me over, that right there won me over."

Additionally, new to its latchkey programs in the coming school year, participating school site students will receive a youth membership to the YMCA's Mill Street facilities "so that they experience the same opportunities as the students at our YMCA site," Clever said.

Before the partnership with Southeastern could be formed, the YMCA conducted a survey of school district parents to make sure there was enough interest to push forward. Satisfied with the results of the survey and response from the community — several positive comments were made on school board member Steven Eldridge's Facebook page where he discusses district happenings — the plan was put into motion.

Clever said as a state-certified and licensed child care center, the YMCA must go through an approval process with the state to make sure the program will meet rigorous safety and academic requirements. That process should start in the coming weeks, after which program spaces at the school will be established and the YMCA's school-age child care staff will take time to become familiar with the culture at Southeastern.

The hope, Justice said, is to have the program ready to go when school goes back in session for 2018-19. While hours of operation are still being worked out, the superintendent expects they will be somewhere around 6 to 7:45 a.m. before school and 3 to 6 p.m. after school. Pay rates will be established by the YMCA in line with its other latchkey programs.

Clever said he is happy the YMCA could help meet a need at Southeastern.

"We have strong relationships with most schools in Ross County, and are always looking for ways to support their work in their districts," he said.